GMR Marketing | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

• The agency now handles strategy, planning, activation, and measurement.
• Muster Consulting led this review.
• This shift replaces incumbent lead strategy media agency partner OMD and digital buying agency partner Tinuiti.
  • Horizon will assume all of these duties.
• The agency will initially focus on helping determine the best use of the NFL's inventory during the calendar year.
  • This year consists of key periods such as the regular season, postseason, NFL Draft, and NFL Combine.
• Horizon's early tasks will also include driving subscription and awareness for NFL, the over-the-top (OTT) streaming service that the league launched last year.
• It will specifically pursue deals with broadcast and digital partners.
• The league will likely:
  • ​​​​​​​Launch a new campaign, specifically ahead of the NFL Draft at the end of April
  • Keep increasing national TV spend
  • Return to higher digital spend
  • Conduct additional agency reviews
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Male millennials and Gen-X, specifically sports fans

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The NFL has allocated roughly $94.9m toward national TV commercials YTD, 35% more than the roughly $70.1m allocated by this point last year.
  • Last year: In 2022, the league allocated around $156m toward this channel after having spent 18% less, around $128.3m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: The NFL's 2023 commercials have unsurprisingly targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NFL Football, the Super Bowl LVII Immediate Pregame, Football Night in America, FOX NFL Sunday, and the FOXD Super Bowl LVII Immediate Pregame.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, the league has spent approximately $9.1m on digital ads, down 43% from the approximately $15.9m spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: The NFL has earned ~1.2b digital impressions YTD via Facebook (44%), Instagram (32%), desktop video (10%), desktop display (6%), Twitter (4%), YouTube (2%), and mobile display (2%) ads.
  • Last year: The league's estimated full-year 2022 spend of $58.3m marked a slight (1%) increase from that of $58.2m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The league utilizes local broadcast, digital, OOH, print, Google Ads, Twitter, and online video (Youtube IOS and Youtube.com) ads.
  • The NFL sponsors podcasts such as NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and Around the NFL.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: If you don't think the task is too out of your... league... get in touch soon to offer creative, PR, multicultural, digital analytics, social media management, influencer, and/or experiential services.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​Horizon Media: Media AOR (April 2023)
  • : Creative AOR (2018)
  • : Creative and digital AOR
  • : Digital and experiential agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by .